Despite My Being An Old Gypsy There

A Large Part Of Our Attitude Toward Things Is Conditioned By Opinions And Emotions Which We Unconsciously Absorb As Children From Our Environment. In Other Words, It Is Tradition—besides Inherited Aptitudes And Qualities—which Makes Us What We Are. We But Rarely Reflect How Relatively Small As Compared With The Powerful Influence Of Tradition Is The Influence Of Our Conscious Thought Upon Our Conduct And Convictions.

I Am An Adherent Of The Ideal Of Democracy, Although I Well Know The Weaknesses Of The Democratic Form Of Government. Social Equality And Economic Protection Of The Individual Appeared To Me Always As The Important Communal Aims Of The State. Although I Am A Typical Loner In Daily Life, My Consciousness Of Belonging To The Invisible Community Of Those Who Strive For Truth, Beauty, And Justice Has Preserved Me From Feeling Isolated.

Development Of Western Science Is Based On Two Great Achievements: The Invention Of The Formal Logical System (in Euclidean Geometry) By The Greek Philosophers, And The Discovery Of The Possibility To Find Out Causal Relationships By Systematic Experiment (during The Renaissance). In My Opinion, One Has Not To Be Astonished That The Chinese Sages Have Not Made These Steps. The Astonishing Thing Is That These Discoveries Were Made At All.

I Very Rarely Think In Words At All. A Thought Comes, And I May Try To Express In Words Afterwards.

One Should Respect An Honest Person Even If He Expresses Opinions Differing From One's Own.